Telemedicine for the Intensive Care Unit

Abstract

As the healthcare sector in the United States undergoes transformation to ensure sustainability in a coming age of value-based reimbursement, an increasing number of organizations have implemented ICU telemedicine services to support population health management. TeleICU services are well positioned to address an increased demand for intensivist physician coverage, expert critical care nurse reconnaissance, compliance with standardized best practice protocols, and efficient utilization of ICU beds within a hospital network. In a centralized operations center distant from the bedside operations, board-certified intensivist physicians and critical care registered nurses remotely monitor clinical activities in real time through audio, visual, and electronic means. With software applications to enhance their population management efficiencies, teleICU clinicians monitor physiological, laboratory, pharmaceutical, and radiological data to identify and avert impending or worsening conditions that may benefit from early clinical intervention. This chapter summarizes the clinical practice of teleICU operations including the associated models of care and the performance metrics, as well as the challenges and limitations including the complex return on investment valuations.

Keywords

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